SWEET 16 TIPS OFF
No. 1 seeds Oregon, Kansas headline first day of Regional Semifinal games.
In the last few days, since Oregon’s victory in the NCAA tournament’s second round sent the Ducks to play near Tyler Dorsey’s Southern California home, his phone has blown up with friends wanting tickets.
“I don’t know how I’m going to fix this situation,” he said. “We only get a limited amount, and they’re pretty expensive.”
That’s how it goes when you’re playing in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16. It’s a very nice problem to have.
Last summer, when Dorsey found himself on the island of Crete, playing basketball for the Greek national under-18 team, trying to satisfy demands from friends wasn’t an issue. He’d arrived two weeks after high school graduation — an opportunity that came, he said, out of the blue because of his mother’s Greek citizenship.
With a brand-new Greek passport, he was immediately tossed into a completely, well, foreign situation. As it turns out, basketball is not a universal language — at least not initially. Even in the gym, it was all Greek to Dorsey.
“It was pretty tough knowing what to do on the floor and what the coach wanted me to do,” Dorsey said. “That was the toughest thing.”
The entire experience, he said, was a culture shock. In other words, he loved every minute.
The language barrier didn’t prevent Dorsey from leading the team in points and minutes despite coming off the bench. He and his Oregon coaches said the experience prepared him for a superlative freshman year at Oregon.
The 6-4, 180-pound guard has been an integral part of the Ducks’ success, including the Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles, the No. 1 seed in the NCAA’s West Region and now a nine-game winning streak.
A win against No. 4 Duke would put the Ducks into the Elite Eight, matching the program’s deepest modern run through the NCAA tournament (Oregon won the inaugural NCAA championship in 1939 and reached the Elite Eight in 2002 and 2007).
Dorsey, from Pasadena, Calif., which is anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes from Honda Center, site of the West regional, quickly emerged as a starter. He averages 13.7 points and 4.4 rebounds and leads Oregon in three-pointers and three-point shooting percentage (41.8).
“He’s had a great year for us,” Oregon assistant coach Tony Stubblefield said. “At the same time he’s kind of found his way. He’s done a good job of sharing the ball, taking advantage of his opportunity he’s been given.”
That’s pretty much what happened last summer, when in a matter of weeks Dorsey gained dual citizenship with his mother’s native Greece and joined Hellas for the FIBA Under-19 world championship (the team finished fourth).
Growing up in California, Dorsey had been one of the nation’s top recruits. The summer before, when he didn’t make the cut with Team USA’s Under-18 selections, he called it motivational. When the unexpected opportunity with the Greek team arrived, he jumped at the chance.
Dorsey’s maternal grandfather was Greek; his mother lived in Athens until she was 3. She retains her Greek passport. Last spring Stubblefield was recruiting a Greek center (who ultimately chose to go pro instead of to college) ”when he mentioned Dorsey’s A Greek heritage to a contact with the Greek national team. From there it was a whirlwind.
Shortly after he graduated from Maranatha High School in Pasadena, he was on a plane, flying alone to the other side of the globe for a two-month education in international basketball and so much else. When Dorsey arrived, the language barrier wasn’t the only obstacle. If everything was foreign to him, he was foreign to them, too.
“He was an unknown,” Stubblefield said. “Here in the U.S., he was Tyler Dorsey, a top-20 or (top)-30 player in the country. But to go to Athens, Greece, he’s one of 13 guys on the team. Nobody knows who you are. Nobody knows your past or your reputation. He had to re-establish himself and prove himself. I think it helped him (with the transition to college basketball). It was a win-win situation for him.”
Dorsey said he learned much about basketball, including the way the European game is more about moving the ball. “More like the Spurs,” he said, “less one-onone stuff.”
“It helped my game,” he said, “slowing my game down, knowing how to pick my game apart and knowing how to get to spots where I want to.”
Although the Greek team finished fourth, there also was this satisfying moment: Dorsey scored 23 points against Team USA. Dorsey also said the experience helped him to mature and to expand as a person. And the win-win situation extended to Oregon, where Dorsey quickly became a starter and made an immediate impact on the court.
“I don’t think it could have gone any better team-wise, winning the Pac-12 and the (Pac-12) tournament and now being in the Sweet 16,” Dorsey said. “I don’t think I could ask for any more.”
There are questions, as of any talented freshman, about whether he might consider jumping early to the NBA. Dorsey shrugged those off Wednesday, saying he was focused only on the immediate goal, which is beating Duke and extending the season. It’s probably more likely he could find himself this summer with his new national team, playing qualifying games for the Olympics.
“I can’t wait,” Dorsey said.